


Performing With You

by notsoseriousdyl



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Modern AU, Slow Burn, Youtube AU, clementine is a dancer, dance au, including characters when they appear and make an impact with the story developing, long distance friendship and relationship, louis is a youtuber, tagging additional when events arrive, violet and minerva are twitter famous
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-25
Packaged: 2019-10-30 00:51:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17818694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notsoseriousdyl/pseuds/notsoseriousdyl
Summary: The upcoming Youtube sensation was reaching for the stars, uploading now twice a week with new dances, how-to-move videos, and even vlogs talking about herself, her life, and serious issues going on in current media. She took her newfound job seriously, working nearly every day to post the best content she could, and to reach out to as many troubled kids as she could.So when Twitter user LouisHampton followed, liked her pinned tweet, and direct messaged her all in the span of ten seconds, Clementine was thrown through a loop.





	1. Chapter 1

Nothing but the sound of rough breathing and the clacking of a laptop keyboard was filling the air at the moment. AJ slept soundly, peacefully, dreaming about things that little boys tend to dream about. He was pressed up against Clementine’s leg, trying to be as close as possible without disturbing the older girl. She paused her typing to look at him, a small smile on her face as she reached down to tug the blanket over him so he wouldn’t be so cold. Once he was completely snuggled in, Clementine pulled her attention back to her screen, the thousands of comments filling her mind one after another. All of them basically saying the same thing over and over again.

 

_ This is so amazing! _

_ How do u even do this w ur body?? _

_                                                                                                                 WHO R U PLZ TELL USSSSS _

 

A sigh escaped her lips as she rolled her shoulders, her back making a satisfying pop. Looks like she’ll have to introduce herself.

 

~~

  
She wasn’t planning on being viral. Honestly the only reason why she posted her original dances was so the other members of her team could view them as easily and as much as possible to help out with exercises, techniques, whatever. That’s what a leader does, anyway. This particular dance was just like all her others, with the same intention and goal. Only, this time, maybe someone else saw the video. Someone who had the power to spread it to their friends, who spread it to their friends, and so on so forth before Clementine could blink.

 

She honestly didn’t even know it was happening until someone tagged her on her own video, being shared wildly on Twitter. And again on Facebook. Then sent to her Snapchat. Everyone and anyone who has ever known her was talking about her newfound fame. Clementine’s dance video now had over five million views collectively, thousands of comments and likes, and a very nerve wrecking amount of people wanting her to make an introduction video for her now fairly big subscriber count.

 

With the help of her long distance best friend Violet, who happened to be what you would call a Twitter Icon, Clementine mustered up the courage to make her very first talkative video.

 

The response was just as heavy, to put it bluntly. She had listed her information in the description, so of course she received a large following on Twitter and Snapchat in the matter of minutes. Her subscriber count was climbing fast, too fast for Clementine’s tastes. It was almost overwhelming, but Violet made sure to encourage her as best she could. To take this new opportunity and platform for something good. To help kids that needed internet personalities. Kids like AJ, who had been through too much for a kid his age. That, of course, tugged at Clementine’s heart strings. Damn you, Violet.

 

So now, the seventeen-year-old upcoming Youtube sensation was reaching for the stars, uploading now twice a week with new dances, how-to-move videos, and even vlogs talking about herself, her life, and serious issues going on in current media. She took her newfound job seriously, working nearly every day to post the best content she could, and to reach out to as many troubled kids as she could.

 

So when Twitter user  _ LouisHampton  _ followed, liked her pinned tweet, and direct messaged her all in the span of ten seconds, Clementine was thrown through a loop.

 

_ Hey, let’s get together sometime. I feel like _

_ we’d make a great team with your audience (; _

~~

 

**VictoryViolet:** You know if it was anyone else I’d tell you to go for it, but since its _ Louis _

**VictoryViolet:** He’s an idiot and he doesn’t know when to be serious. If you want to collab do it with caution.

 

Clementine tapped her finger on her desk, staring at her phone that was rested right next to her big history book to hide in plain sight. Not that it mattered much, the lesson for the day was over and the teacher was too busy writing down the assignment for the night to look for phones. It’s been… two days since that message found its way into her Twitter, and it still shook her to her core. Louis Hampton was a very popular influencer, and making a video with him would be great for her channel. It would bring in a whole new traffic of subscribers, and the more followers she had the most influence she could make, the best she could help the kids who liked her enough to watch. Everything in her mind was telling her to go for it. But her brand?

 

Louis Hampton was popular because he was a comedian Youtuber. Joke after joke, never taking any of his videos seriously and always doing a scripted sketch. It wasn’t exactly what Clementine was going for. Her videos were always motivational, always heartfelt, always serious and to the point and, she hoped, inspiring. A video with Louis would force her to break out of her brand, force her viewers to see her in a new light. Whether that would be good or not is still up in the air, and that’s exactly what she had gone to Violet about.

 

**sweetpea:** I don’t know.

**sweetpea:** I don’t want my subscribers to think I’m changing. I like where I am now. Sure a little comedy is okay, but for some reason it doesn’t sit right with me.

 

**VictoryViolet:** I’m not sure how youtubers work, but from what ive seen they usually do two videos? Like one for your channel and one for theirs. Maybe you could do a funny video with him and he can do a serious video with you.

**VictoryViolet:** … though I’ve known him for years and I can’t ever remember a moment that kid isn’t busting out a joke…

 

**sweetpea:** Ugh not helping my case, Vi.

 

**VictoryViolet:** my bad

 

The bell rang, signaling the end of the day. Clementine stuffed her phone in her back pocket before collecting her things. The senior walked out of the classroom, slipping earbuds in her ears. The last thing she wanted was someone to walk up to her right now. She had too much on her mind. Feeling like she was walking to the rhythm of the song that played, Clementine walked right out of the school and across the field to the elementary school, where her little brother would be finishing up his classes. All the while she thought about the pros and cons of this situation. Maybe she was thinking about this too hard. Being a youtuber was supposed to be fun and exciting. No one told her it was actually challenging and difficult. If she had known that, she probably wouldn’t have stepped up in this position… okay, well, that was a lie. She still would have. Clementine liked a challenge, and she enjoyed the idea of kids like AJ watching her. It was worth it to see those comments that made her entire week. To see how many people look forward to her vlogs, remakes of her dances, and even fans on Twitter. Sometimes she would run into a fan at the store, or the park, and they’d ask for pictures. It was nice. To be looked up to this much. It made her feel like she was doing her job right.

 

Clementine walked inside the elementary school and waited for the day to end. When she saw AJ, she put away her headphones and grinned at her little brother. AJ said a quick goodbye to his little friends before running towards her, a big smile on his face, “Clem!” he called, waving a piece of paper in his hand at her, “Look what I made in class!”

 

She curiously got down on one knee to be eye leveled when he reached her, “Hey, squirt, What’cha got there?” she held out her hand to take the paper, looking at the drawing that was messily made. It was obviously a picture of three people, but it took a small moment before Clementine realized it was supposed to be her, AJ, and their neighbor, “You drew this? You’re getting really good.”

 

“Thanks,” AJ beamed, taking the art back. Clementine stood up straight. The two of them started to walk out the building, heading home, “Tenn taught me how to draw noses recently,” he looked at his drawing as Clementine took his hand to cross the street, making sure to look both ways, “I’m going to give it to Lee. I hope he likes it.”

 

His sister let out a small laugh at the thought, imagining Lee’s reaction to the picture, “I’m sure he’ll like it. He likes all the drawings you’ve done for him.”

 

They walked to only the sound of AJ talking about his day, Clementine just listening and nodding along. He was super excited about this new lesson that they were going over, something about animals. He’s always been into animals, “Did you know birds are survivalist-ists?” He chatted, skipping over cracks in the sidewalk as they rounded their way to their street.  _ Step on a crack, you break your sister’s back.  _ “and- survivalist-ists hunt for their own food and everything? Isn’t that cool?”

 

“Yeah,” Clementine agreed, eyes looking from in front of them to the other, “ _ survivalists _ -” she stretched the word to help AJ out with his punctuation, “-are pretty smart. Did you know that humans are survivalists too?”

 

AJ looked thoughtful, not answering Clementine’s question. That was okay. What she said was a lot to take in for the seven-year-old.

 

She looked away from him just in time to see their neighbor moving the lawn. Both children perked up, and AJ went from a walk to a run, taking Clementine with him, “Lee!” he called, waving the drawing he had violently, wrinkling it terribly.

 

Lee looked up from his hard work, tipping his hat upward. When his eyes landed on AJ and Clementine, his face warmed up to a soft smile and a gentle gaze. He only addressed them properly when they were in front of him, on the other side of his fence, “Hey, kids,” he leaned on his lawn mower, which he had turned off in favor of talking to his favorite children, “just get home from school?”

 

Clementine didn’t have time to answer before AJ pretty much threw his hand upwards, trying to stretch enough to get Lee to see his drawing, “I drew this for you at school!”

 

The older man took the paper, looking over the drawing. He let out a laugh, “You did this? Wow, kiddo, you’re getting really good at this. I’m going to have to get you to start signing these drawings so I can show them off when you’re a famous artist,” he took a moment to focus on the drawing before lowering it, a bigger smile on his face now, “I like the way you did the noses.”

 

AJ let out a gracious ‘thanks!’ grinning ear to ear. Clementine took this time to say something herself, “How’ve you been? Haven’t seen you since last week.”

 

Lee rolled his shoulders, “You know how it is. Grading papers, dealing with students. It’s almost exam week. I have to start getting in all these grades. You think teenagers are bad with needing to know their grades, wait until you get into college.”

 

Ah, college. Clementine has put in so many applications. She’s hoping to get into the same college that Lee teaches at. That would be the best case scenario. She even had Lee write a recommendation for her, “Can’t wait,” she said sarcastically, “any news on my application?”

 

Lee shook his head, “I don’t know anything about that. But letters should be going out soon. You’ll get your answer. No matter what happens, I know you’ll do the best thing for your future. You’re smart.”

 

Clementine felt warmness in her heart from his honesty. All three of their attention switched from each other to Lee’s front door, “Hey,” Carley walked down the porch steps, careful not to spill the tray with three drinks she was holding, “good thing I looked out the window before I came out. Thirsty?”

 

“Carley!” AJ hopped on his heels, waiting patiently for the woman to approach them. When she did, Lee picked up too cups and handed them to the kids. Clementine swished her drink before smiling at her neighbor, “You didn’t have to do that.”

 

“Nonsense, anything for my favorite kids. Drink up, it’s hot out.”

 

The three of them took a drink, collectively sighing afterwards at how refreshing it was. Lee was the first to speak, “Thanks, honey,” he pressed a small kiss against Carley’s temple. AJ giggled, because he’s actually seven, causing the grown man to smile in embarrassment. Carley shook her head fondly.

 

“We should take off,” Clementine reluctantly started, taking AJ’s hang again and gesturing towards their own house, “mom and dad will be home soon and I still have to finish the dishes before they have a cow.”

 

Carley waved them off, “Can’t have that,” she said, taking the now finished glass from AJ and half empty glass from Clementine, “we’ll see you guys for dinner tomorrow.”

 

“Dinner?” AJ repeated, eyes shining.

 

Lee ruffled his hair lovingly, “Dinner. Tomorrow’s Ed’s birthday, remember?”

 

AJ jumped, as if he was struck with lightning, “Oh no!” he yelled, letting go of Clementine’s hand, much to her protest, and running off towards their house, “I didn’t make anything for him!”

 

“AJ! Don’t cross the street without me!” Clementine looked both ways quickly, making sure no car was headed towards her brother. There wasn’t. Thank God. She watched him fumble for the house key inside their mailbox and run inside once he unlocked it. She sighed, “That kid, I swear.”

 

“I remember when you were the one running around like that,” Lee laughed at his memories, “it’s refreshing that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

 

“Funny, I don’t remember that at all,” She turned towards her neighbors, gripping onto her backpack now, “I should make sure he’s not making a mess in there. He gets… passionate about his art.”

 

With a last goodbye, Clementine left the couple to their afternoon delights. When she entered her own home, the first thing she heard was the all too familiar Facetime ringtone. AJ must be calling his art friend- Tenn, Clementine reminded herself. Which means he’ll be occupied for the next hour or so. That’s enough time to finish the dishes and edit a little bit.

 

She rolled up her sleeves and took out her phone to play music, only to find a massive amount of messages from not only Violet, but Minerva too. Weird. She doesn’t message Clementine. Like, at all. In fact, Clementine was convinced that the redhead didn’t like her. But here she was, in her Twitter messages talking about… Louis Hampton? Clementine groaned. She decided to read Violet’s messages first.

 

**VictoryViolet:** if you want I can talk to Louis for you? Can’t promise I’ll get a direct answer, but I could at least ask him what he had in mind.

**VictoryViolet:** I can make up some bullshit like “oh shes so shy shes nervous about talking to you” or something like that to stroke his already inflamed ego.

**VictoryViolet:** tbh he might just walk to collab with you cause he’s obsessed with girls.

**VictoryViolet:** he’s close with Minerva too maybe she knows what he’s planning.

**VictoryViolet:** honestly? Louis is a good guy. He’s dumb but he’s good. I don’t think he’d want to do something to make you uncomfortable or whatever.

**VictoryViolet:** You should message him back. At least to see what’s up, you know?

 

Clementine rolled her eyes. Literally all they’ve been talking about recently is Louis Hampton. She was getting kind of sick of it. She sent a gif of a kid crossing her arms and pouting as a response. Violet was quick to retaliate with another gif of a kid shrugging. Clementine didn’t respond.

 

Now, time for the hard part. Clementine opened up Twitter and took to scrolling through her feed, seeing tweets from the people she followed, and even liked some of them herself. Minerva was apparently going through exam week herself, where she was, as her tweets were nothing but complaining and yelling. Her followers ate it up, as per usual. She was even bigger than Violet, after all. Her moment of catching up was interrupted when she saw a tweet from LouisHampton, reminding her exactly why she was logged in currently. Clementine sucked in air as she opened her messages, and tapped on  _ MinnieMystery _ .

 

_ Hey Clem, totally not pressuring you or _

_ whatever and honestly just curious but  _

_ why haven’t you messaged louis back? _

 

Christ. Clementine rolled her neck, thinking of a response before she dug her grave.

 

_ Oh hey Minnie. Honestly? I’ve been battling it _

_ with Vi for the past couple of days. I’m kind of  _

_ nervous. Louis seems cool. _

 

She obviously couldn’t tell her the full truth, so this’ll have to do. Clementine turned on the tap water to fill up the sink, preparing for the dreaded dishes. Her phone buzzed in her hand, telling her she had a messaged.

 

_ Lol trust me, Louis is probably more _

_ nervous about your response. Hit him _

_ up, hear him out. Trust me girl. _

 

She didn’t respond. Clementine just wanted to do the damn dishes.

 

~~

 

After about forty-five minutes, the teenager was in the living room with her laptop, headphones in ears, editing her newest video to be posted tomorrow. As per usual, she took a small video of a five second part, without sound, to post on her Snapchat. She loved doing that, and getting the very vocal response of her fans. It made her feel good about her video. Even if all they saw was five seconds. AJ was sitting on the floor, taking up the entire coffee table space with his many crayons, pencils, and multiple sheets of paper. His iPad was propped up with a crayon box and the centerpiece, the picture of Tennessee filling up the screen with a smaller picture of AJ in the corner, “Let me see?” the older boy asked.

 

AJ stuck out his tongue as he did the finishing touches to his masterpiece before turning it around and showing his best friend, who grinned, “How’s it look?” he asked, “did I do the nose right?”

 

“You did awesome,” Tennessee gave a thumbs up of approval. Clementine took out one of her earphones. AJ fist pumped the air. “This is for your dad, right? Maybe you should write something on there, too?”

 

“Hm…” AJ turned the drawing back around and tapped the pencil on the table, thinking with all his might what he could write, “like… ‘happy birthday Ed’? With an upside down ‘i’?”

 

Tennessee looked thoughtful for a second before nodding, “Yeah. And maybe add a little heart too, so he knows you mean it from the heart.”

 

“Good idea!” AJ exclaimed, now slowly, painfully so, spelling out each word as best he could, “there,” he said when he was done, absolutely astounded by all that hard work he did, “happy birthday, Ed. Heart, heart, upside down ‘i’. I put two hearts, just so he knows for sure.”

 

Tennessee laughed, “I’m sure he won’t miss it.”

 

Clementine leaned forward to look at what exactly he was making. It was a picture of him and her dad, surrounded by clouds and flowers. At the top was his very hard to read handwriting. How sweet. Clementine almost didn’t register the car door outside, but AJ did. He was quick to his feet, collecting all his things, “They’re home!” he shouted, “I have to hide the evidence! I’ll- uh- I’ll talk to you later, Tenn!”

 

His friend gave a wave goodbye before he hung up himself, leaving AJ free hands to carry all of his stuff back to his bedroom. He forgot the drawing, but Clementine took it and slide it under the chair before her parents could walk in the door. When AJ came back, he looked spooked, but Clementine motioned under the chair, trying to tell him where she put it. He visibly relaxed.

 

“Welcome home,” Clementine smiled at her parents. Diana responded with a quick kiss on the top of her head, along with AJ, “how was the day? You guys got home pretty late.”

 

“Your father decided that stopping by the grocery store would be greatest thing in the world.”

 

“Hey, we got some nice deals today!” Ed lifted up the bags in his hands with a big hearty smile on his face, “AJ, be a pal and go get the rest in the trunk?”

 

Eager to help, AJ marched out the door. Clementine took out her remaining earphone and sat her laptop down on the coffee table, her editing being forgotten for just this moment, “Need help with dinner, mom?”

 

Diana hug her work jacket on the clothing rack, humming in thought, “No, I don’t think so. Unless you want to call for delivery for me?”

 

Clementine perked up, “Pizza?”

 

“You know it, Superstar,” Ed called from the kitchen, probably putting away the groceries, “it’ll be an easy night tonight. We know you have to finish that video before tomorrow!”

 

Right, the video. Clementine looked at her laptop, staring at the progress she had made and thought about everything she’ll have to do before its ready. She smiled at her parents, “Thanks.”

 

AJ came back inside, tumbling and nearly tripping over himself. Clementine was quick to help him out, much to his displeasure.

 

~~

 

After a night of jokes and pizza, a very stuffed Clementine sat in bed, laptop in lap, tapping away the final touches to her video. When it was done, finally, she sighed and cracked her knuckles. She pulled up Discord to give Violet an update.

 

**sweetpea:** That’s a wrap, ladies and gentleman. Another week completed.

 

**VictoryViolet:** Finished the video?

 

**sweetpea:** Yeah. This one was hard to get through. Part of me thinks it’ll be just as boring for the viewers as it was for me.

 

**VictoryViolet:** I’m sure its fine. It’d be boring to you cause you’re the one who made it.

 

**sweetpea:** touché.

 

Clementine logged into Twitter, looking at the latest tweets and trends. She was tempted to tweet something herself, but couldn’t think of anything worth doing so. Music softly played in the background, one of the songs that Clementine was planning on writing a dance for. It was soft and pretty, not like her other hard hitting choices. A song fit for a dramatic, sad story. But with a happy ending. Clementine was always a sucker for them.

 

**VictoryViolet** : not meaning to punch a dead horse but did you give it any more thought?

 

She leaned back in her bed, staring at her wall. After Louis Hampton had been clear from her thoughts for hours, she had almost forgotten her predicament. She tried to put this scenario in perspective, especially with that Minerva told her.  _ He _ was apparently nervous about  _ her _ . Louis Hampton, one of the most popular Youtube stars. It was almost unbelievable, considering his confident and almost ostentatious internet persona. But, who would know him better than Minerva and Violet, who both said he was a, quote unquote, ‘good guy’. Maybe…

 

**Sweetpea** : You can vouch for him? He won’t try and destroy what I tried too hard to build?

 

Violet kept typing, and kept erasing. Clementine’s breath was caught in her throat as she waited. Eventually she stopped all together. Clementine almost felt disappointed. She finished scrolling through Twitter, finding herself reading Louis Hampton’s tweet again. She ended up clicking on his profile.  _ Follows you _ . Who knew those words could bring such a ridiculous dilemma in her life. A notification popped up, Violet finally responded.

 

**VictoryViolet:** Trust me. Louis is a fool, but if anything were to happen to him, I’d seriously go ape shit. And I really think he’d do the same for me. If that doesn’t tell you what kinda guy he is, I don’t know what will.

 

Clementine had always trusted Violet’s judge of character. She was such an honest and brutal person, it was hard not to. She and Clementine always tend to like the same people too. So if Violet likes Louis Hampton, trusts him, and even encourages contact with him, then who is Clementine to not at least hear him out. Like Minerva said.

 

Typing away at the message between her and Louis Hampton, she tried several times to think of a good response to his reaching out.

 

_ Hey, that would be great. I’d be  _

_ open to the idea. What did you _

_ have in mind? (: _


	2. Chapter 2

“What do you mean he hasn’t answered you?” Clementine couldn’t help the small eye roll she did, putting away her laundry as Violet continued to question her from the laptop on her bed. She knows her friend means well. It’s just a tad annoying. Well, not because of Violet herself.

 

After many days of constant consideration, battling with herself on whether or not contacting Louis Hampton would be a good idea or not, and Violet, and even Minerva, telling her that it’d be okay, to just hear him out, he’s not as stupid as literally all his friends (including them) make him out to be, Clementine finally bit the bullet. She sent him a nice little message, even added a smiley face! Questioned him on what he had in mind. But did he reply? No. He didn’t even leave her on read. Clementine hasn’t seen a trace of him online for a full week. No Instagram activity, his Twitter was practically abandoned. Hell, Clementine went as far as subscribing to his Youtube to catch if he uploaded or posted any news on anything there. She even followed him on Snapchat. Snapchat! The one place everyone goes to for a quick update! And nothing! Clementine would have been convinced he was dead, or at least done with social media, if it wasn’t for Violet, who was kind enough to tell her just now that Louis was blowing up her messages about something dumb. Or, ‘Louis related’ as she put it. That’s so annoying! He’s gone out of his way just to avoid her? It sure seemed like it. Right before she sent him a message, he was happily replying to fans. But now suddenly he isn’t? What a bust!

 

She plopped back on her bed, her phone bouncing slightly with the impact, and brought her knees up to sit comfortably. Grabbing the laptop to straighten it, Clementine tucked her hair behind her ear and tuned in Violets ranting, which she has been doing this entire time apparently, “… I outta give him a piece of my mind. Minnie told me just how excited he was at the idea of collabing with you. There he was, singing all your praises but the minute he finally gets the balls to message you, and you  _ actually _ message back, he just drops off the face of the planet? I knew he wasn’t on social media, like, at all for whatever reason, but really?  _ This _ was why? What a pussy.”

 

“I’m confused,” Clementine pulled up Twitter, looking through her feed.  _ LouisHampton _ has not said anything. His fans were starting to get worried, “did he leave because I messaged him? Or did something happen in his life?” 

 

She supposes she shouldn’t jump the gun. Maybe something changed in his day-to-day life, and he hasn’t been able to get back online. Maybe soon he’ll send out a public apology to everyone for leaving so suddenly. Or maybe whatever happened was so bad that he decided to quit all together. Clementine hoped that wasn’t the case. She watched a couple of his videos, purely for research on exactly what type of comedian he was, and he did have a large platform filled with potential. It’d be really disappointing if he wasn’t content with this lifestyle anymore. He was pretty big. His fans were loving and supportive of everything he posted and did. Her borderline stalking even proved that he didn’t really have any controversial content. There was even an apology video he posted about a rumor that went around about him three years ago. A  _ rumor _ . And  _ he _ apologized for it. That sounded like a nice guy, like the kind of nice guy who wouldn’t actively avoid someone.

 

“No, he’s been constantly bugging me and Minerva about stupid shit like usual,” Violet said, immediately poking holes in Clementine’s sympathy towards him. What a douchebag, “if something happened, he’d immediately come crying to us.”

 

The brunette clicked back on Violet’s face, watching her type viciously on her phone. It took a couple of seconds before she realized that she could be texting Louis, “Hey— wait, don’t  _ tell _ him to message me back!” 

 

“Why not?” Violet threw her hands in the air, flashing her phone to reveal a very long typed out message she had done. Clementine couldn’t see the words, or who it was for, but she was positive it was to Louis, and not very friendly, “He’s being a jackass.”

 

“What if he’s just nervous?” She continued to make excuses for him, despite her own irritation. Why was she doing this? He  _ was _ being a jackass. Messaging her, making her have a very ridiculous dilemma, and then dropping off the face of the Earth as if he didn’t just burn his name into Clementine’s mind, “Like I was. Maybe he thinks a collab is a bad idea now and he doesn’t know how to tell me. People ghost all the time.”

 

Violet threw her phone on her desk and leaned back on her chair, her arms crossed. Clementine could see her glaring at the packets of paper in front of her, as if she could burn a hole in each one of them. Clementine knew that if her friend could, she would, “Doesn’t make it okay. He’s gotta pull his big boy pants on eventually. Even if he doesn’t want to make a video with you anymore, what type of response is silence?”

 

“Violet, dear,” Clementine heard from the background of the video call. She arched her neck, as if she could see past her friend on the screen, to see who was calling her, “did you finish your school work?”

 

Violet groaned, flipping through the packets on her desk before turning around herself, “Almost done, mom.”

 

She turned back around to say something to Clementine, but her mom interrupted, “I can hear you cursing in there, make sure you’re not getting distracted, dear!”

 

After a small moment of silence, Violet puffed out the air she was holding in her cheeks and picked up one of the packets, flipping through it, “Any chances you’d be willing to help me out with all this? It’s only, like, a trillion papers.”

 

“No can do, smart guy,” Clementine offered a smile of encouragement, “you’re way ahead of me, academic wise. Public school sucks. I barely know what a circle is nowadays.”

 

Violet visibly deflated. Clementine can tell her friend has a long night ahead of her, “Well, thanks anyway for the distraction. But if I got any chance to spend the weekend with Minnie, then I gotta finish all this,” she grabbed an out of frame hairband and tied the hair in her face up, making her signature ‘concentrated’ look, “be lucky your mom’s not your teacher.”

 

“I thank the Heavens every day,” Clementine gave a wave goodbye to her friend, “good luck, don’t fry your brain.” Violet only responded by giving a smile. They both closed out of their video call, leaving nothing on Clementine’s screen but the previous messages of their conversation. The room was quiet now, and the sun outside had barely began to set. She still had a good amount of time before her usual bedtime. She had already finished her chores, homework was finished and packed neatly in her bag, and the video for her channel was edited and scheduled to be posted tomorrow. There wasn’t really much to do left.

 

Clementine flipped through her music on her laptop and clicked on one she’s been thinking about dancing to. While the song played, she went through her normal process of choreography in her head, motioning out some movement from the comfort of her bed. When she got a good idea of what she wanted to try out, she stood up and started to move along with the music. What worked and what didn’t work was engraved in her mind as she went along with the notes, being completely engulfed in rhythm. The meaning and soul of the song really coming together, the story making sense for the first time through dance. Clementine smiled to herself at her progress. This was it. She let out a huff once the song faded out, sighing and placing her hands on her hips. Slow, dramatic, and heartfelt. Not exactly what Clementine usually went for, but she still felt confident about the song choice at the end. As per usual, she bent down to her laptop to announce the new song choice to Twitter, linking the music responsible and telling her fans to ‘stay tuned for the completed story!’

 

The rest of the night was spent with music.

~~

The tapping on the lunch table was annoying to Aasim, and she knew it. She could tell by the look he gave her hand every so often. Part of her kept going just to annoy him further, being the great friend she was. Finally, Aasim had enough. He reached forward and grabbed her hand, making her look at his agitated expression. Before she could say anything, a friendly voice interrupted their oh so tender moment.

 

“Well, don’t let me ruin ya special moment,” Ruby sat next to Clementine with her homemade lunch, grinning her pearly whites at her friends, “Aasim, I didn’t take ya for’da romantic type.”

 

Aasim quickly took his hand away from Clementine, pink scattering his dark features. He covered his ears, a habit Clementine picked up on that meant he was embarrassed, “No, it’s not like that, Clementine—“

 

“What are you saying, Aasim?” Clementine decided to ruin his friend’s day even more by playing along, “Are you embarrassed by me? I thought we could finally go public with our romantic relationship.”

 

“Stop. Now.” Aasim shook his head, throwing his hands in the air for emphasis. Ruby and Clementine shared a laugh before the conversation was taken to their usual. Light banter, talk about class work, maybe a little gossip between the girls every now and then. Aasim always said that he had no interest in talking about ‘useless information’, but Clementine knows he tunes in and even reacts in his own Aasim way.

 

Ruby was just about to say the punchline to this joke she heard earlier that day when a book bag was slammed onto the table, followed by a very pissed off Mitch. The brunette’s music was blaring in his headphones, Clementine wondered how he could even hear. She reached over and yanked it out, “Hey, Hulk, what’s with the slamming?”

 

Mitch glared at his friend before wrapping his headphones in his fingers, “Fucking Mr. Wright,” he grumbled out, stuffing his headphones in his pocket before leaning on the table with his elbows, crossing his arms, “called me out in class again. In front of everybody. What the fuck, you know? Always on my case. ‘You don’t pay attention, Mitch’ or, like, ‘you have so much potential, Mitch’. Fuck you, old man! I don’t need an old fart telling me what I am and what I’m capable of!”

 

“Mitchell!” Ruby gasped, giving Mitch a warning look.

 

“Rubilyn!” Mitch countered, lifting a hand to run through his hair. He looked tired. And angry. Exactly how he always looks, Clementine thought.

 

“I hate it when ya talk about’da teachers like that,” Ruby took a hold of her sandwich, eyes not leaving Mitch for a single second, “ya know they mean well, right?”

 

Mitch reached for his phone, opening an app game that Clementine didn’t recognize, “Yeah, whatever,” he mumbled before tuning himself out form the world for good.

 

The group of friends decided to leave him be for now. They knew how Mitch got whenever something made him mad. It was best to let him simmer until he was ready to talk. Mostly to Ruby, but Clementine has been known to be a good shoulder to lean on when her friend is upset. After all, they’ve learned to trust each other. You kind of have to when you’re on the same dance team.

 

Lunch was like it usually was. Aasim was mostly just doing school work, while Ruby and Clementine talk about simple things, with Mitch occasionally chipping in conversations. It was nice and easy, just how Clementine likes it. She wished all of her friends had the same lunch, which would make it even better. Nevertheless, school wouldn’t be the same without her friends. When the bell rang, she slowly packed up. With promises to hang out this sometime soon with the rest of the gang, Clementine watched Ruby and Aasim head to their shared class, Mitch lagging behind in a different direction. Clementine will have to remember to send him a text later today. He liked receiving them a lot, despite his angry looking emoticons.

 

Not even three steps inside her class, she was immediately attacked and bombed with information by her childhood friend Duck, who looked more exasperated than usual, “Clem, oh my God!” he shouted, taking her by her backpack straps and dragging her further into the classroom, back to their desks, “You’ll never guess what I found earlier! It’s so sick!”

 

Clementine took a couple of seconds to fully register the phone that was slammed in her face and its contents. When she did, she couldn’t believe her eyes. There, in plain writing, was the results for an online competition that she and her group had entered about a month ago. Clementine had nearly forgotten about the entry until now. Duck must have been stalking their website for weeks for the results…

 

“Did we make it?”

 

“Use your eyes, ya goof!” Duck pretty much shouted, taking the phone a few inches away from her face to point at the list, “Look!”

 

Low and behold, there the team was, a couple of spots down the way. Clementine celebrated. She laughed with Duck, grabbing him by the shoulders and shook him as gently as her excitement would let her. She took the phone and tapped on her team name. The video that they sent in was shown, but she wasn’t interested in that. She went directly for the notes, seeing what she could have her team improve and what needed to be changed. After reading all the positive and negative comments, she gave the phone back, a huge grin still plastered on her face, “Oh my God, Duck, you have no idea how much I needed that!” she sat at her desk, barely believing the news.

 

Duck continued to smile as well, sitting at his desk next to her, “This is so awesome,” he sat his phone down and shook his hands in the air, “as your teams official manager and roadie, I hereby dedicate my life to bring this team all the way up to number one! Nothing less!”

  
“They said on the website that the order wasn’t official or anything,” Clementine pointed out, still smiling like crazy.

 

“Doesn’t matter!” Duck continued, “I’ve seen those other videos, Clem, no one compares to the team! I bet all those other people are shaking in their dance shoes!”

 

Clementine laughed, taking out her phone, “Speaking of team, I should tell ours the news,” she tapped on the group chat they had, typing away immediately.

  
  


_ Guess what guys. We made it to the next round for Stevenson And Company Dance Competition! _

 

The response wasn’t immediate. But she did see her phone lighting up constantly while her teacher gave the normal greeting and introduction to the day’s lesson. She decided that her teammates were more important, and unlocked her phone to read.

 

**_Sarah_ ** _ : Oh yay! I’m so proud of all of us! _

**_James_ ** _ : This is amazing news. _

**_Mariana_ ** _ : Come on James be more excited than that! This is so big for us!! _

**_James_ ** _ : I am excited though. I am currently smiling. _

**_Gabriel_ ** _ : so what does this mean?? there’s another round right?? _

**_Sarah_ ** _ : There’s three more rounds I believe, this one was the top fifteen, then it’ll be the top eight, then top three, and then a winner! _

**_Gabriel_ ** _ : jeez why can’t they just be normal and pick top ten top five and a winner?? _

**_Mariana_ ** _ : Aren’t you supposed to be helping Javi with the car? _

**_Gabriel_ ** _ : aren’t YOU supposed to be paying attention in class?? _

**_Mariana_ ** _ : Nope! _

**_Gabriel_ ** _ : wtf mari go to school?? _

**_Mariana_ ** _ : wtf gab YOU go to school?? _

**_Mitch_ ** _ : im so close to muting this fuckin chat just look up the damn website for the info about the competition yall are dildos _

 

Duck responded by sending the link for everyone’s pleasure. Clementine was grateful for the lively chat, it reminded her of all the personality she had on the team. Each of these dancers had their strengths that complimented each other so wonderfully, Clementine loved working with them and pushing them to their limits. She responded to the group by saying that they should meet up Friday night to discuss possible songs and the future of this competition. She occupied the rest of her class time by flipping to a clean page in her notebook and writing down all the songs she could think of to listen to.

~~

**VictoryViolet** : Congrats Clem, I saw your tweet. That’s awesome

**sweetpea** : I know! I’m so excited to get started on the new dance. James and Sarah are already sending me ideas and I’ve been writing them down. I have like two pages full of songs.

**VictoryViolet** : Haha, I’m sure you guys will do great. I took the liberty of looking up your groups dance, it was pretty great. That one dude with the beanie was intense?

**sweetpea** : lmao Gabe? Yeah, he get into it pretty easily. He’s kind of a dance diva

**VictoryViolet** : wait wait excuse me?? Gabe, as in your ex? Clem dude you dance with your ex??

**sweetpea** : loooll Let’s make like a cow and mooove on. Did you get your assignments done?

 

Music was constantly blaring from Clementine’s laptop. She was on her feet, stretching fully while taking small moments to type out replies to Violet. She focused her attention on her feet, flexing them repetitively until her ankles felt good and ready. She typed another reply out while she stuck her leg in the air, doing a split and balancing on one leg. When she was done typing she reached above her to grab her leg, stretching them even further. Good and loose, she needs to keep it up. Her leg came down so she could back up into the wall, bending down to place her flat palms on the ground.

 

She slowly put her weight down on her hands, rising her lower half. She tried her best not to tremble, but it was pretty difficult. Her legs finally came up straight, pointed and precis. Her arms remained unlocked, as close as she could make them while moving her legs downward, towards the room. When they were close enough to the ground, Clementine got down on her elbows and placed the very tip of her toes to the floor, stretching out her abdomen intensely. When she couldn’t hold that pose anymore, she put swung her feet back towards the wall and lifted herself upright, now sitting on the floor, “Haven’t done that in a while,” she commented to herself, rubbing her stomach as she got up and walked back to her laptop.

 

Violet has responded with multiple messages, but the thing that caught her eye the most was a notification from Twitter. She pulled the tab up fully and searched until her eyes landed on her messages. All air was caught in her throat and her heart flat lined. Clementine immediately went to Violet and typed as fast as she could.

 

**sweetpea** : Vuolte louisn jusrt replsyed to me what do I do

**VictoryViolet** : … what

**sweetpea** : Louis

**sweetpea** : he just replied to me

**VictoryViolet** : Oh shit? Finally. What did he say?

**sweetpea** : I don’t know

**VictoryViolet** : What the fuck Clem read his message?

 

Clementine opened Twitter back up, looking at the small preview that was given to her from  _ LouisHampton _ . Honestly? Clementine should be mad. After responding, all she got was a week of silence. Nothing on his part. A week of anticipating his reply, thinking it was her fault that he was now gone, and all she got at the end of it was a message beginning with ‘haha’? No. A part of her, the petty and insensitive side of her, wanted to leave him on read and go on about her day. But the kind part of her, the part that normally took over whenever she was making social decisions like this, told her that was wrong. Of course, she listened.

 

She was not about to let this ruin her day. She was going to read his reply, and take whatever response, good or bad, to heart. If it was good, great. She’ll have a plan for a video in the far future. If it was bad? … Oh well, she still has plenty of content to give  _ and _ a competition to win. Clementine tapped on the conversation with an open mind, heart still beating at an inhuman speed.

 

_ Haha, hey clementine. Wow, I didnt expect _

_ a reply from you. But here you are lol. A collab _

_ would be great, actually im planning a trip to _

_ florida to see my friends in like two months. _

_ Well you know them too actually. violet and _

_ minnie. I know Geogria is on the way. Maybe  _

_ we can plan for a quick meet up?  _

 

Wow. Clementine leaned back against the back of her bed to fully process the message. She read it again before taking a screenshot and sending to Violet, who immediately replied.

 

**VictoryViolet** : What a doofus. What are you going to say?

**sweetpea** : I guess be nice? I didn’t expect a detailed reply.

**VictoryViolet** : He’s probably embarrassed from ignoring everything.

 

The brunette cracked her knuckles and moved her neck until she felt that very satisfying pop before placing her fingers on the keyboard to respond. She tried to type once, twice, but nothing she was saying was coming out okay enough. Should she crack a joke? Ease the tension? Or should she be professional and tell him the strict business? She’s never done this before, being an internet personality was still new to her, technically.

 

_ Hah, yeah, here I am. That’s awesome that _

_ you’re planning a trip. Wish I could go see _

_ them too, I’m sure that’d be fun. Two months  _

_ from now seems like an awesome amount of  _

_ time to think of a good idea we could do. Did _

_ you already have ideas? I’d love to hear them. _

  
  


Seems innocent enough. Clementine noticed that when she sent it, it immediately went on read, but Louis didn’t immediately start typing. She almost got nervous that she gave him too much information before she finally saw that small bubble of suspense, disappearing and reappearing before her very eyes before a message finally came through.

 

_ No, haha. I was actually hoping _

_ we could brainstorm. I mean you _

_ seem really into music judging by _

_ your channel. Maybe we can do _

_ something with that? _

 

_ You like music? _

 

_ I do. I write a lot of songs. _

 

_ Wow, interesting idea alert. Most _

_ of my videos involve dance. Maybe _

_ you can compose some music and _

_ I’ll write a dance to it? _

 

_ Very clever Clementine. But for _

_ my genius song writing skills to take _

_ place I need to know a little more _

_ about the girl im writing for. Your song _

_ preferences for one. _

 

_ What do you ask for in return? _

 

_ Just the powerful magic of _

_ friendship, of course. _

 

Clementine took a moment to process. What, this guy was asking to be friends? He didn’t just want to make a collab, boost his ratings with her, and never talk again? She guessed that’s fine, just means she can’t be too professional or else she would scare him away. She rolled her shoulders and typed up a response, a small smile forming on her face. This could be fun.

 

_ That can be arranged. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I hoped you liked chapter two! All the other characters are starting to show up.
> 
> If you have any questions about any of my headcanons for any of the characters, including side and main, head over to my tumblr and ask me! I'd LOVE to answer every single one of them and elaborate more about this story.
> 
> My url is generationxd (:

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a kudo, comment, anything to show that you like this story! I'm very proud of it, and what it's come out to be, and I'm happy with how I've written everything so far. I'm not done with it yet, but I have a goal to finish it by the time the last episode comes out. So it'll be done soon! Thank you for reading.
> 
> For information, the first chapter is mainly a summary and a catch up point. The story truly begins next chapter, where we follow Clementine on her journey with her dance team, her Youtube channel, and her personal struggles with the future. Many many more chapters to come soon! (:


End file.
